About RDJ

Robert Downey Jr. was born on April 4th, 1965 in Greenwich Village, New York, to Elsie Ford and Robert Downey Sr. The family moved around a lot due to Robert's father's occupation as an independent filmmaker.

In the late 1980s, Robert spent many summers at a camp where he was taught acting, dance, improvisation and vocal technique among other things.

When Robert's parents divorced in 1977, he stayed in New York with his mother, while his older sister Allyson moved to California with their father. Robert followed her sister a couple of years later. He was given roles in school theater productions in Los Angeles.

With his father's approval, Robert dropped out of high school in 1982, and moved to New York to live with his sister. Before his acting career, he supported himself by working as a busboy (among other things). Soon enough he was part of local theatre and off-Broadway productions. Finally an agent spotted him and arranged for him to try out for movie productions in Hollywood. Read more about his career here.

Robert is currently living happily with his wife in Beverly Hills, California.

Trivia

Wing Chun Kung Fu training and Ashtanga Yoga are important parts of Robert's life. He has credited them for helping him beat his drug addiction. He's also a strong believer in healing stones and the native American custom, saging, for clearing negative energies.

Robert's hobbies include painting and drawing, and he has created some interesting artwork over the years, including the cover art of his album.

Robert has a son, Indio, who was born on September 7th, 1993. Indio's mother is Robert's ex-wife, a singer/songwriter, Deborah Falconer.

While filming Gothika in Canada in April 2003, Robert met film producer Susan Levin whom he married on August 27th, 2005.

Robert appeared as a writer and singer on Vonda Shepard's "Ally McBeal: For Once in My Life" and "A Very Ally Christmas" albums and sang in a duet with Sting on The Police's "Every Breath You Take" hit dating from 1983. Downey also appeared in Elton John video"I Want Love" in 2001.

Robert has supported several charities and benefits through-out the years, including the South Asia tsunami aid, The American AIDS Foundation, Hollywood-Sunset Free Clinic benefit and Hope and Cope fundraiser to help cancer patients and their families. In 2001, Robert spent a lot of time on charity work for the Hollywood-Sunset Free Clinic. To bring in funds, he took a big part in planning, organizing, and hosting a 3 day benefit pop festival at Silver Lake in December.

Robert battled a drug addiction in the late 1990s and the early 21st century (2001), but has since beaten the problem. Later, he not only sought treatment and attended classes, but immersed himself in two disciplines — exercise and work.

Personal quotes

"Life's really messy. But either the cosmos has order to it or it doesn't, and I choose to believe that it does. It's not about your day job anyway, it's about what you're here to do." (2006)

"They say an optimist believes the future's uncertain and that a pessimist is always right but derives no satisfaction from it. It's my duty to be an optimist, but the pessimist has more information." (2006)

"There's no benevolent god out there keeping an eye on my career. I've been really humbled by my inability to live life on life's terms. I think I'm really fortunate that I went through all that shit and got beat into a sense of reasonableness." (2006)

"Long periods of time in something fairly akin to purgatory is a great remedy for a life that's short on gratitude." (2005)

"Before, it was a lot of work, working hard and playing hard. And now, it's like I work hard, I work out hard, I rest hard and I love hard, and that's a better deal." (2005)

"I think performing music is something that's been in my heart for a long time. I thought, seeing as I'm pushing 40, it's time to do something a little more courageous than just make faces for cash and chicken." (2005)

"I've always been the type of fellow to put all my eggs in one basket, and then promptly take a dump in the basket." (2003)

"I'm allergic to alcohol and narcotics, I break out in handcuffs." (2003)

"Right now, all I'm putting into my body are cigarettes and coffee. Those are my last two addictions, and they'll go sooner or later. At this point in my life, I'm going for progress, not perfection." (2003)

"I've always felt like such an outsider in this industry. Because I'm so insane I guess." (1999)

"I don't think I'm in any position to give anybody advice about anything." (1998)

"If I didn't need to work for a living I'd be recording all the music that I've written over the last 15 years. I think it's the most personal mode of expression I've ever found." (1997)

"Mediocrity is my biggest fear. I'm not afraid of total failure, because I don't think that will happen. I'm not afraid of success, because that beats the hell out of failure. It's being in the middle that scares me." (1989)

[on his past addiction to drugs]: "It's like I have a loaded gun in my mouth, and I like the taste of metal."

"It's a blanket statement to say, 'That guy's really sharp and amicable and nice,' because there's a little bit of asshole in every nice guy, and there's a little bit of genius in every moron."